CV axle or driveshaft failure on the 2012 Ford F-150
When cv axle or driveshaft failure gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Ford F-150 report CV axle or driveshaft failure at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 105,000 miles. It is the 30th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 95,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 80,820 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11,780 miles | 58,000 miles | 58,000 miles | 90,000 miles | 92,600 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $450–$2,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 23 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2004 carries the most reports, with 55; the 2012 has 11. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
The vehicle has been in the ford shop three times for a clicking or popping noise that came from the rear of the truck. I have complained about it since the vehicle reached 6,000 miles or 4 months old. The dealer has attempted numerous repair attempts (3 ea.)to fix the problem the vehicle has spent many days at the shop while the mechanic tried to fix the problem. The ford engineers or so I have been told where aware of the issue and instructed the dealership to try the ssm# 22384 to fix the issue. The dealership performed the ssm# on friday the 14th of dec and after driving the truck I noticed the same complaint of the clicking noise and there was no apparent change to or after bringing the truck in for repair. I notified the dealership and they said the truck was safe to drive and they would keep me notified on any other fixes as they come available through ford.after almost 200 miles after the attempted repair I was driving down the highway when I felt the truck shake then heard a large pow then bang, I quickly looked out the rear view mirror and saw smoke and sparks. I was able to recover and get the vehicle to the shoulder of…
Gm [xxx] at chino hills ford failed to allow his service dept. To repair, correct or replace defective driveline or driveshaft componets that clunk and rattle on a new ford raptor truck under factory warranty and an esp ford 100,000 extended warranty. These faulty componets could fail and cause loss of control or serious injury or death to myself or passengers and other vehicles on the highway should they fail and seperate from the drivetrain, driveshaft, u joint or yoke of the truck. This is a known and much complained about issue on these ford raptors and ford motors has ignored the drivetrain clunk issues. This should be a ford recall to determine what the drivetrain issues are with this $60,000. Truck and correct them asap for safety reasons. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford f-150. The contact heard a noise coming from the rear center of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician installed a driveshaft boot repair kit lubricant to keep the gear from wearing out. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 63,362.
Also reported on the 2012 Ford F-150
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Other steering problem
Other visibility problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does cv axle or driveshaft failure happen on the 2012 Ford F-150?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cv axle or driveshaft failure on the 2012 Ford F-150?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed